Oh, I know. It's just a fantasy I allow myself to indulge every so often. Pay it no mind. It's mostly because, if it were me, I'd feel guilty cashing such huge checks knowing that I'd been little more than laying eggs for 4 years.
But the real question is why give a mid-major coach a 7 year deal right off the bat?
Every type of negotiation and business deal comes down to leverage -- who has more, who has less, who gets the most out of what they have, who pisses what they have away.
The likely answer to your question is that Archie had, or felt he had, more leverage than IU did. And IU, in agreeing to a 7 year deal, probably agreed. Glass wanted him and never gave serious consideration to anybody else.
Archie's stock was high at the time and, if he couldn't get what he wanted out of IU, he likely could have elsewhere. My recollection is that Matta didn't step down until June or so. But I have to believe that people in that world (coaches, ADs, agents, shoe reps and such) knew Matta was on his way out and that OSU probably had Archie at the top of their list. If so, we can add the element of timing.
